Many see Manchester City’s joint venture with the New York Yankees in creating the New York City Football Club as an excellent idea. In financial terms too, I believe that the idea of opening up football to the American audience will certainly help the City’s stature grow overseas.
But Manchester City are not only hoping to gain a bit of extra income by this business venture. They are also hoping to be able to have the first dip into the pool of young talent that is being produced in America.
But this raises the question: is investing in American football a good idea?
The United States is one of the leading countries when it comes to financially investing in youth sports. The amount of money that is pumped into sports in America in terms of coaching and facilities can’t be rivaled. Many British football teams in League 2 or League 1 would do anything to be able to have the facilities that are made available to players playing at University.
But we must take into consideration the way in which American football is set up. In England and many other countries across the world, players at the age of 16, if they are good enough, get signed to play for a club’s youth team for two or three years. In America, however, this is not necessarily the case.
Yes, Major League Soccer teams give contracts out to players at the age of 16, but many parents would rather see their child stay in school until they are 18 (the graduation age in America) and then go on to University (where they can play at the sport for another four years, while getting an education alongside playing).
The problem with this system, is the way in which the NCAA, (National Collegiate Athletic Association) the governing body of University sports, oversees football. In America, football is seen as an autumn sport, in which players playing for University teams can only play competitive matches during the months of August to December.
What player is ever going to develop if they are only playing five months of competitive football? Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale would not be the players they are if they were limited to an allotted amount of competitive play.
Even after Christmas, the NCAA put a limited amount of hours on a player being able to touch the ball. Eight hours a week and no more is the time in which players are allowed to practice, with only a handful of competitive games being allowed. There are even restrictions on how long the coaches can spend with the players. This too is carried on through the summer. Coaches are not allowed to contact University players before they start their pre-season camps.
How is limiting the amount of time someone can play a sport ever going to make American players get better?
It isn’t just the Universities that are the problem though. The system in which America tries producing their young talent clearly isn’t working. When you consider the size and population of the country, you would think there has to be at least one person who can come close to the standards of the world’s best players.
The population size could actually play a hindrance though, when the pool to choose from is simply that big there are bound to be players that will fall through the net. With the MLS being the only professional division in America, it is also very unlikely that someone like the Chicago Fire or Seattle Sounders is going to see a late bloomer in the game playing at a small club. Yet, this is the way in which Arsenal found Ian Wright.
The wide variety of sporting options that football is competing with (such as American Football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey), as well as the American culture in accepting football don’t help. But, you would think that over the last twenty years they would have been able to produce more players of a higher quality than Tim Howard, Claudio Reyna and Clint Dempsey.
With all due respect, the three players mentioned are good players, but they are not ones that you would ever jump at the chance of having in your starting eleven in a top European league.
That brings me back to the point of my article: Manchester City’s business venture. Is creating a new team going to help promote football in America and maybe produce a star that will capture the imagination of many? Or is it simply designed to help sell a few more tops in a country that thinks of football as something you throw and catch?
My personal belief is that unless there are drastic changes to the game in America, the sport will never flourish and we will not see a star come from across the pond anytime soon. Sorry City fans!
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